Friday, October 26, 2007

My last entry was about the Central State project I worked on with Don Schanche. It was in some ways really depressing, some things really hard to see. In other ways a really uplifting experience.

Several weeks before starting the Central State project i had to photograph a young child who was in a coma after drinking pesticide. The child was at a nursing home in Macon. The family was trying to get hfinancial help to keep the child from going to Central State. He was in a room with two elderly men. One of them screamed profanities the whole time I was there. I thought "well, guess it beats Central State." Was I ever wrong.

We spent time in the long term care area where they dealt with children in the same circumstance. There was a little girl who had drown, and had been pretty much catatonic. The woman who worked with the children spent time with each child, talking, touching, improving their various skills. She spent the same amount of time with the young drowning victim, saying she needed the contact and love. She held her in her arms and carried on a one-sided conversation.